Nick R.
Google
We checked in for a two week stay as hotel guests (we don’t participate in any time-share systems). At Marriott (Time Share) Vacation Resorts, “owners” don’t get any housekeeping services while hotel guests get limited housekeeping. In the case of this place, we were told upon checking in that housekeeping consisted of a “tidy” service (basically replace towels and remove trash) every two days and a one “free” full clean because our stay exceeded 10 days.
On the second day, we asked the front desk to send housekeeping in the morning, and we went out for the day. Upon returning at 4 pm, no service had been provided.
On the fourth day, we again asked the front desk to send housekeeping in the morning. Again, upon returning at 4 pm, no service had been provided.
On the sixth day we again asked the front desk to send housekeeping in the morning and requested a full clean on the eighth day. The clerk said he didn’t think we were entitled to a “free” full cleaning, so we asked him to consult the front desk manager.
The manager came out and confirmed we were entitled to a full cleaning and suggested that we have that done that day. We told him about the two misses on housekeeping on days two and four and didn’t want a “threepeat.” He assured us that he would follow up himself and make sure the cleaning was completed that day.
We returned at 4 pm and it was indeed a threepeat. The unit had not been serviced.
Back to the front desk, and we asked to talk with the manager. He took more than five minutes to appear, because he was calling housekeeping and telling them to get up to the unit to service it. We expressed our disappointment and he said he would add 10,000 points (worth about $25) to our Bonvoy account (still not received).
For the remainder of our stay, we didn’t bother requesting the tidy service because it was obvious that the resort doesn’t want to provide it even when requested and promised. We exchanged towels when we saw housekeeping in the hallway and continued to take out the trash ourselves. Housekeeping did in fact provide the tidy service once during the remainder of our stay.
One thing that we found surprising is that the resort is happy to not exchange the bedding more than once during a two week stay. I suppose “owners” are supposed to launder the bedding themselves (there are full size washers and dryers in the units) but I don’t see why this should be expected of hotel guests. As well, there were several small rips in our bed sheets.
Another issue with housekeeping is the kitchen surfaces were smeared and certainly not very clean when we checked in. We wiped down all the surfaces ourselves. So, in general, housekeeping is a big miss.
One bright spot is the unit had obviously been refurbished recently. The furniture looked quite new (this doesn’t apply to the kitchen appliances which were obviously quite old), and the floors and walls looked pretty good. The outside BBQs were also clean which was a pleasant surprise.
Now on to the water supply and plumbing. When we checked in, we discovered that the kitchen faucet would only provide hot water in a trickle. That was clearly an issue that we would have expected housekeeping to report to maintenance. How can you properly clean a kitchen without adequate hot water? Did the dishwasher operate with mostly cold water?
We also discovered that one of the taps in the bathroom leaked from the top when switched on, and the plumbing made weird gurgling sounds.
We reported all these issues to the front desk on our first day. Maintenance managed to restore the hot water flow to the kitchen faucet but didn't address the bathroom tap or the gurgling.
The water supply itself is gross. The water stinks of chlorine and hydrogen sulfide (aka rotten egg smell) and is revolting. Even brushing my teeth with it almost made me gag, and we certainly didn’t drink it. We purchased bottled water for drinking.
My final comment is that the pool area looked very nice, although the weather during our stay was not conducive to swimming.
